Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Another Busy Day

Exhausted tonight. It's been a busy couple of days with the family here. But there is no rest for the hospitalized. Doctors start rounds at 0500, and patients get woken up. Derek was sleepy and cranky this morning.

Not as cranky as Friday morning when a new nurse who was not familiar with him walked him. I had briefed her before she went in as to how Derek liked things done. She didn't listen. She is on orientation and is working with an experienced nurse, but some things the orientees do alone. Several of the orientees are wonderful. We gladly work with them. Others? No. This one on Friday morning was one of the "No's."

Derek had acupuncture a few days ago, and the woman inserted the needles and left. As in left the hospital....went home. The needles were only supposed to stay in 20 minutes. After an hour, Derek called for help removing them. This all occurred after we left for the evening. I have been waiting for her for a couple of days. I cannot wait to have a little conversation.

The phantom pain has gotten a lot worse. Derek explains it as when "imaginary limbs try to hurt you." The docs increased his medication to try to combat. The narcotics were increased temporarily over the weekend to allow the new meds to work. They have been reduced now.

Last Tuesday, urology came in late to schedule a procedure the next day. We said no. Friday came around and we still did not know whether they were going to do it Monday or Tuesday, so I tried to find out. A very nice doctor from urology came up and gave us the choice. Tuesday it was. But.... now it is not.

The procedure was to change the SP tube (catheter from outside of abdomen into bladder). They like to change it every 30 days, but it can be stretched a couple of weeks if necessary. 30 days expired on Friday. Sunday, Derek started clamping trials. He's a big boy now! He passed his standardized test for peeing! Go, Derek! Sunday, they were not happy with the results, but today he did great. So, the procedure is stalled a couple of days to see if it can be removed completely. One less tube. As Dr. West says, "less of a patient, more of a person."

And it was such a busy day today. Derek started the Matc officially. A good PT workout is always good for what ails you! Go, Derek!!

And I gave blood for the Army/Navy challenge. Go, Army!

Dr. Diego walked by when Krystina and I were visiting with Lisa, Sgt Archie and Laura Lee. Also with us was a friend of mine from Boston - Caitlin! I told the group that Dr. Diego had yelled at me a couple of weeks ago. He smiled bright and said, "Yep. I did." I think I took him down a few notches when I said, "But who was right?" Yep, still part of the Residents' Self Esteem Initiative. He tried to walk away, but I was blocking him. "I'm trying to leave but she won't let me go!"

We do love Dr. D. He is wonderful, even if he is not Bograd. The picture is Dr. D. He is holding a bookmark we gave him. I am giving him devil ears, but his head is too big and covered my pinkie! He was yelling at me a couple of weeks ago over Derek's phosphate level and the fact that Derek did not want to take the phosphate binder because it was making him sick. We have controlled it with diet. So tonight, Dr. D walked in, looked at Derek's dinner, and proclaimed, "Wow. Look at that big plate of phosphate!" Brat.

He really wouldn't be happy with Derek if he knew what Derek wanted for dessert! I went out to dinner with a friend of mine, and Derek asked his night corpsman for two pieces of apple pie. When Krystina objected, he said, "Mommy said I could have one." Yes, I did. As a treat for Thanksgiving when his phosphate level was in the mid-4's. Today it had pumped up to 6.2. No apple pie. He finally agreed with Krystina, but then he hid his hand from her and showed Garay two fingers. Krystina was onto him.

While sitting with Sgt Archie and Laura Lee, one of the corpsmen came over and joined us. This is the corpsman with whom I wrestle on a regular basis. He is a pest, and he likes to tease everyone. He was sitting on the ground and grabbed my wrist. I put him in a headlock, and we proceeded to wrestle. I called out, "Help me, Archie!" If Lisa had let go of Archie's leash, Brat the Corpsman would have been no more. My hero, Archie!

To hear the story from Derek's own mouth, he has started a video blog. It is on youtube under ACauseWorthFighting4. Here is a link to his latest. http://youtu.be/z2o8F3F5OuE

After the upsetting day yesterday, Derek read my entry entitled "Tears Don't Grow Legs." His only comment was that I didn't end it with "Climb to glory!" He must have agreed with everything else I said. Love you, Derek!

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About Me

I am a single mother to 5 wonderful children: Michael 24, Derek 23, Kellina 18, Ryan 18, & Sean 15.
On July 23, 2011 our world was changed forever. While on patrol in Afghanistan, Derek attempted to rescue another soldier and stepped on an ied resulting in several injuries, including amputations of the legs.
We survived a lot, and we are still climbing that mountain. Come climb with us!